Kia Discontinues Rondo Small Minivan

For some reason, the little jelly bean-shaped minivan won me over. I was allured by the low price (starting under $15,000), optional third row and the sheer amount of space. It certainly wasn’t the ride or the interior quality. But for $15,000, you got a lot of car. It felt a lot more solid than the Mazda5, which excelled when it came to a nice interior. And the Mazda5 is better-looking, too.

Now I discover via Autoblog that Kia's U.S. website is saying “all good things must come to an end,” that the Rondo is no more. There was never a 2010 model year of the Rondo, and it seems there will be no 2011, 2012, etc.

A few new 2009 Rondos are on dealer lots. Cars.com's national inventory shows just 69 vehicles, ranging from $12,895 to $24,955. Kia is offering up to $2,000 cash back and another $1,000 either in loyalty cash or competitor cash back. It looks like the sub-$13,000 listing includes some combination of incentives in that price.

However, it’s very likely that Kia dealers would be happy to move the last of these little guys to make way for the Sportage, which it seems Kia is trying to move people toward. If you have fond memories of the Rondo, especially if you own one, let us know about them in the comment section below.

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Former managing editor David Thomas has a thing for wagons and owns a 2010 Subaru Outback and a 2005 Volkswagen Passat wagon. Email David